Discussion:

WEAKNESSES:

Throughout our study, we found a few weaknesses in our study that may have influenced the data we collected.  First, we experienced nonresponse bias.  We sent out 150 samples and received only 123 back.  To reduce the influence of this bias we could have distributed even more samples, making the sample size larger.  This bias could also have been reduced by waiting longer for surveys to be turned in.  Due to time restraints were forced to cut our sample off at 123 surveys received.  We also dealt with response bias within our sample.  A few of our surveys were filled out in a manner that disqualified them from our sample.  There are not many ways other than increasing sample size to reduce the effects of this response bias.  There was no measurement bias introduced in this study.  Lastly, we could have strengthened our study by stratifying based on grade level.

EXTRAPOLATION:

Our sample was large enough to extrapolate to the population at North Olmsted High School.  We could not extrapolate our study to other high schools or all high schools across the nation because of our limited sample size and also the variation of phone preference across different locations.  In order to extrapolate our sample further we would need to include high schools from multiple different locations in our sample. Therefore, we required a larger sample in order to be able to apply the results of the study to a larger population.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES:

For further studies, we could have potentially determined if a relationship between phone and gender appeared after grade level was stratified. That is, does a relationship exist in freshman, sophomores, etc. Additionally, due to the large number of types of Androids, we could potentially split that category into multiple to complete a more thorough analysis of the phone analysis.